User blog:Kombatgod/amiibo rules
Since I recently made that big blog post about amiibo, I take the occasion to explain some crossover rules about amiibo. I'm sure many of you already figured them out, but I think I never wrote them anywhere, so I thought I might as well do here. Let me know if you think there should be a proper Wiki article about amiibo (it would probably go in the Crossover rules category). In short there are two levels of connections created by amiibo: *'Compatibility reference': the mere fact that a game features compatibility with amiibo from a different series; it generally creates a type 3 link. *'Content reference': the amiibo providing content from another series within the game; this usually creates a type 1 link (like when the amiibo unlocks a character or weapon) or a type 2 link (like when the amiibo unlocks a costume). For the rules on Overall Links, the overall link between the two series will always be the strongest one, so if the content creates a type 1 link, then the type 3 link created by the compatibility is irrelevant in case the two references are to the same series. The two references can be mismatched, though: a game can feature compatibility with an amiibo from one series, but its content might reference another series. (for example scanning a Super Smash Bros. amiibo often produces content from the character's own original series, rather than the Super Smash Bros. series) Moving on, we have to keep in mind how amiibo work: each amiibo has the character's name in its data, and can have an attribute specifying its variation. This means that any Mario amiibo always includes the name "Mario"; the Mario - Gold Edition amiibo includes the name "Mario" with a "Gold" attribute. The amiibo also includesindication of what series it belongs to, so there might be games that are able to distinguish between the same character from different lines, or feature compatibility with any amiibo from a specific series. (I don't know if the names are spelled out as text files or if they're encoded and the games have to know them) People have counter engineered and hacked amiibo, but I can't find specific info online, so we have to speculate on what specific attribute each amiibo has (for example: various games only recognize the Dr. Mario amiibo as Mario; does this mean that it's a "Mario" amiibo with the attribute "Dr. Mario" unrecognized by those games, or is its name "Dr. Mario", with those game recognizing it, but programmed to act the same way as if you scanned a Mario amiibo?) In case anybody finds some source for info on each amiibo's attributes please let me know. Either way we do know that games don't have to recognize the specific amiibo, they can just read their name. For this reason every game that recognizes "Mario", will recognize every Mario amiibo released prior to the game, but also all those released after it. This means that developers don't have to reference a specific amiibo, but rather the character, when including compatibility. Still, including compatibility means that they have to at least know that an amiibo was released based on that character, and know their specific name. It's not like anybody is going to feature preemptive compatibility for a "Jin Kazama" amiibo before its release (even though that'd be badass). So compatibility ALWAYS implies them aknowledging an amiibo being phisically released in one or more series, and therefore we can count that as a reference to that series. Here are the rules I compiled about amiibo: Basics: *'An amiibo is only part of the series to which its line belongs': this means that all Super Smash Bros. amiibo are considered merchandise in the Super Smash Bros. series; the Fox and Falco amiibo are NOT considered merchandise in the Star Fox series. Sure, maybe Star Fox fans will buy the Fox amiibo regardless of Smash, and the creators know that, so they might consider them Star Fox merchandise from a commercial standpoint, but we're talking about fictional series here, so an amiibo is a representation of its specific series' universe, regardless of people's perception. The only oddity so far is the Mega Man - Gold Edition amiibo, as explaned here, so there can be exceptions. *'A game featuring generic compatibility with every amiibo doesn't create a fictional link': A lot of (most?) games that feature amiibo compatibility will also include a generic reward if you scan an amiibo the game doesn't recognize. This doesn't create a connection because it's not a reference, but just a feature the developers included without having any other specific series in mind. :Hereafter, by Compatibility we mean that scanning the amiibo produces specific results different than scanning other character amiibo. Compatibility with a specific variant means that scanning it produces results different than scanning any other variant of the same character. Compatibility reference: *'Compatibility with an amiibo or a variant released in a specific series, creates a type 3 link with that series': so if my game includes compatibility with the Pit amiibo, it counts as a reference to the Super Smash Bros. series, since it was released in that series. This also applies to specific variants, so if a game is compatible specifically with the Gold Edition variant of Mario, that counts as a reference to the Mario series because that variant was only released in the Mario series. *'Compatibility with amiibo characters released in more than one series, creates a type 3 link with either series depending on three criteria': **'what figure was already released at the time, or what would be released sooner': if I release a game today compatibile with any Chrom amiibo, does it count as a reference to Fire Emblem series or to Super Smash Bros.? Well, that's most likely a reference to the Fire Emblem series, since a Chrom amiibo was already released in that one, while one in the Super Smash Bros. series will only be released in the future. If they announce a Ridley amiibo to be released boundled with Metroid Prime 4, and my game features compatibility with any Ridley amiibo, is it a reference to Smash or Metroid? Well, since the Ridley amiibo will be released on December 7, 2018, while Metroid Prime 4 won't be out at least until 2019, then I probably had the Super Smash Bros. series amiibo in mind. If the amiibo is already released in more than one series, it doesn't matter which was released first. So, if my game features compatibility with any Wario amiibo, that could be a reference to the Mario series as well as to the Super Smash Bros. series because both amiibo are out, even if the Super Smash Bros. amiibo was released six months prior. **'the series of other compatible amiibo': so if my game features compatibility with any Peach amiibo, does it count as a reference to the Super Smash Bros. series or to the Mario series? Well, if my game also features compatibility with the Pikachu amiibo (which was only released in the Super Smash Bros. series) and doesn't feature compatibility with any Super Mario-specific amiibo, it counts as a link to the Super Smash Bros. series. **'the content provided by the amiibo': if my game features compatibility with any Zelda character amiibo, is it a reference to Super Smash Bros. or to the Zelda series? Well, if it unlocks a weapon from the Zelda seires that didn't appear in Smash, then the developers probably had the Zelda series in mind, so it counts as a reference to that series. ::All criteria should be taken into consideration, and the most consistent one might override the others. So if I include compatibility with all the Super Smash Bros. amiibo as well as Inkling Girl, the second criteria might override the first and we could count that only as a Super Smash Bros. reference, even if an Inkling Girl amiibo was already released in the Splatoon line while the Super Smash Bros. one will only be released in the future. ::A compatibility reference may count as a link to more than one series in conflicting or inconclusive cases. Any oddity should be indicated in the pages, letting readers freely agree or disagree with our stance on arguable cases. ::If a specific series is identified, compatibility with the same character amiibo from a different line is considered an unnotable incidental reference (and therefore is not a fictional link in either series's page), but it may still be mentioned in the X page for completeness, since readers might find it interesting. Content reference: *'If the content provided by the amiibo is found in the game's own series, then it doesn't create a fictional link': in this case scanning the amiibo just creates the Compatibility link; the game unlocking specific items is unrelevant if they're items that already belong to the series. For example, scanning a Ganondorf amiibo in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild can unlock his weapon, the Sword of the Six Sages; while the sword does appear in Super Smash Bros., and Ganondorf is a Super Smash Bros.-exclusive amiibo, the sword is also (and mainly) an item from the Zelda series, so its presence is not considered a reference to the Super Smash Bros. series. *'If the content provided by the amiibo is found in the series identified from the Compatibility reference, then it creates a link to that series': This is the basic, most consistent amiibo content: you scan the amiibo from one series, it unlocks content from that series. The type of link depends on what element is featured in the game (so a costume will count as type 2, a character appearing will count as type 1, etc.) So for example the game One Piece: Super Grand Battle! X features compatibility with many amiibo from the Super Smash Bros. line, and they each unlock a specific costume based on the respective character. Since the costumes are based on Super Smash Bros. characters without any additional references to each character's original series, then Zoro wearing a costume based on Link from Zelda, or Franky wearing a Donkey Kong costume, still only count as references from the Super Smash Bros. series. *'If the content provided by the amiibo is NOT found in the series identified from the Compatibility reference, then it creates a link to another series': for example scanning the Captain Falcon amiibo in Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy + unlocks an F-Zero-themed aircraft. While Captain Falcon is a Super Smash Bros. character, and his amiibo is exclusive to that series, the aircraft paint pattern references the F-Zero series specifically, including the series' logo and most notably Captain Falcon's artwork from F-Zero X; this clearly shows that the developers wanted to reference the F-Zero series specifically. :Note that these rules are ordered, so the second and third apply only if the first one doesn't, and the third one applies if the second doesn't. These are all the rules in a strict, orderly way. Practically things might be much easier, and not require us to go through all of them each time, but things can become tricky with amiibo released in multiple series, or series (Smash) including guest character amiibo. TL;DR: every time an interaction with another series happens through an amiibo you should ask yourelf: what series are they referencing? You ask this both to what series the amiibo comes from as well as to what content it unlocks, and in ambiguous cases you check what other amiibo are compatible to create a context and identify the reference. ...gosh. I'm so bad and yet somehow so good at summarization! Category:Blog posts